Bloodstained Snow
by LittleMermade
Summary: Clint and Natasha go on a mission in order to save Mockingbird, but something goes awefully wrong... will they make it out alive? And will the other Avengers be able to help them? rated for some cursing, violence and blood
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! I'm so looking forward to Age of Ultron, so I watched some episodes of Earths Mightiest Heroes today again and this little story made its way into my mind.**

**The characters are Black Widow, Hawkeye and Mockingbird (no real pairings, I guess)**

**I don't know how many chapters it's going to have. Depends on my creativity ;)**

**I hope you like it! :) R&R!**

He didn't feel cold anymore, when he opened his eyes he saw red, then black, than red again. A distant voice was telling him something. He brought a weak hand to his stomach, it felt moist- blood –

Clint was fighting. He wanted to open his eyes again, nothing. His vision stayed black, no red to be seen anymore. He passed out with the cracking sound of his broken com in his ear. What the hell had happened?

Clint Barton put his cup of coffee down again. Absently he was looking through some of the stuff Stark left there to read on his StarkPad. The other Avengers were still asleep or elsewhere. Still everyone of them had a private life and that was great. This way he and everyone else could keep their little secrets. He was sure everyone did have something he would never tell.

He was close to jumping when the ringtone of his phone broke the silence. Clint picked up the mobile and hesitated. It was SHIELD calling him. Sighing he answered the call: „Who's speaking?"

A deep voice echoed from the other end: „It's Director Fury. I need you on a mission with Black Widow- instantly!"

Hawkeye wasn't really enthusiastic about that: „Hey! I'm not your little handy-man. I'm an Avenger, so is Tasha. What is this about anyway?"

Fury's voice sounded concerned: „I would not bother you, if it was not highest level! I would call for Mockingbird, but that is the problem…"

Immediately Clint pricked up his ears: „What's wrong with Bobbie?"

Fury started explaining: „Two days ago I sent a team, led by Agent Morse, to AIM HQ, that we discovered in the Alps about a month ago. They were supposed to arrest one of their leaders for SHIELD to get as much information as possible. But… Mockingbird does not copy since about four hours. Something must have gone wrong. I need my best agents to find my team"

Clint stayed silent for a moment: „…Fine. Pick us up in one hour." He hung up and rose from his seat. He couldn't leave Bobbie all alone there, they grew close friends and maybe even more than that. Now he had to convince Natasha to join him on that mission, which wasn't always the easiest thing to do.

Before he even knocked on her door, he heard her soft voice from inside the room: „Who's there?" You wouldn't expect it any different from the perfect spy so he actually wasn't surprised: „It's Clint"

„Clint…", she paused, „come in." He opened the door and entered, right away he closed it again: „Natasha… I need your help."

She stopped reading what seemed to be some kind of protocoll and looked at him: „With what?"

„See… Nick Fury called me…"

She cut him off instantly: „Why would I want to be Fury's puppet again? Why would you?"

„It about Mockingbird, Tasha…"

Nat gritted her teeth. She would not let him see, that she was upset about him asking her to save his crush. But she would not let him know, she would never let her facade crumble. So instead of letting that heartbroken feeling affect her actions she smiled slightly: „What is that mission about?"

Clint started explaining, but she didn't really listen to him. Damn! Why didn't he realise what he meant to her?

After he was done speaking she just nodded: „Fine…" Without another word she pushed him out of her room and shut the door.

A little confused Clint looked at the door, then he started walking away. He got in the elevator quickly and left it at his floor again. He went into his room and put his suit on. Afterwards he started reading some of the stuff Fury had sent him, but he rapidly lost interest.

When the lift doors opened, Natasha was already waiting for him on the roof. She was standing by the railing, her sight distant, but still he knew, she had noticed his presence. Her catsuit shimmered a little, because of the rising sun- as did her eyes. On her left arm she was holding a jacket- whole in black too. Clint opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of a jet landing on the roof.

Tasha turned and started moving toward the aircraft. Her voice was soft and she didn't face Clint while talking: „Come on… no time to lose, right?"

A small smile crossed Clint's lips and he followed her close: „I didn't leave a message for Steve…"

The Black Widow, her eyes still focused on the jet, shared a brief grin: „Don't worry… I left a note in the kitchen and I told Jarvis as well." Clint nodded as an answer, then they got on the aircraft without another word.

During the time inside the jet none of them was talking a lot. To not make anyone feel uncomfortable with her eyes wandering around the small space given Natasha started reading Bobbies latest reports about the long-time mission.

Before her team was sent on that, as now known, one way trip to that AIM-base, Agent Morse determined undercover as an AIM-Agent.

Her protocols were quite accurate- somehow like her own ones. That made her hate Morse even more. Maybe she was just searching for reasons to hate that woman, maybe it was because Bobbie grew a little too close to Clint while they were working together, but she would never admit that of course.

The whole room was dark, but not too dark to see actually. There was a small kerosene lamp standing in a corner, its glow was barely bright enough to illuminate the whole room.

The room itself… well… it was big enough for the simple wooden chair she was chained to and maybe two more of these chairs.

The walls, the floor and the ceiling were made of cold, dark-grey concrete and there was no window- it would have been a surprise if there had been one although.

Barbara Morse sighed faintly and then tried to free herself from the metal bonds around her wrists and ankles. She couldn't even move them a bit and gave it up after a few minutes. Frustrated she leaned back again. She was still wearing her costume with one detail missing- they had taken her mask away.

When the heavy metal door swung open Bobbie looked up instantly. With a stern expression glued to his face a high-leveled AIM-general entered and closed the door behind him straight away.

He had a chair with him and placed it opposite Bobbie. Unhurriedly he sat himself down, he was just staring at Mockingbird. Minutes past, not a sound was to be heard. Bobbie used that time to muster every inch of the man. Dark brown hair, emerald eyes, but cold as ice, despite their colour.

His uniform was all black with the logo of AIM on it, several medals pinned on the fabric beneath the logo. Simple black shoes, not elegant, more like sneakers. His skin was tanned, but still more white than any other colour she knew to describe skin.

Eventually the man raised his voice: „Well… Look who we got here- Agent 629. Or should I now better call you Mockingbird?"

Bobbie said nothing. She just looked at him defiantly. The man cleared his throat, before he spoke up again: „What can you tell us about SHIELD? Names? Plans? Prisoners?"

Morse remained silent, trying not to show any emotion, when the man hauled a knife.

His voice still calm he let his fingers glide over the side of the blade: „You know… My daughter once wanted a bird as a pet. I bought her a mockingbird.

Barbara sighed: „I am sorry for interrupting, but I think I am old enough to go without your little bed time story. I mean- What's next? Once upon a time, you telling me a fairytale?" The man's response was harsh: „In fairytales everyone lives happily ever after, but not all stories are like fairytales. See… first my little darling loved the bird, but the animal never opened its beak. It should have been there to sing it's little melodies all day long. But the bird refused to tweet… and of what use is a silent mockingbird? Do you imagine what I do to birds like that one, Agent Morse?"

Bobbie jewed on her lower lip. She didn't answer the question. The man looked at the knife and then back to Bobbie: „I break it's neck."

Blandly Agent Morse raised her gaze to meet the eyes of the general. The ice was gone, there was just insanity in these eyes. This was not worth it. Bobbie wouldn't say a word, she had to protect her friends, she had to protect SHIELD even if she had to die.

Clint and Natasha told the team Fury had sent them to go back to HQ. They needed to stay undercover and for that they preferred to operate alone. Natasha noticed that Clint didn't seem as concentrated as usual. She furrowed her brows with worry- hopefully he wouldn't be unwary. Getting caught would probably be the end of everything. AIM did never make deals- especially when it came to SHIELD.

The helicopter dropt them on one of the mountains, the AIM base below them, but they could see it from their current position. The two assassins were making their way through the knee-deep snow. They were on guard every single second, especially when they got near the building.

The two of them managed to sneak into the AIM base through a window. Easy to open for master assassins of course. Without making a sound they swung themselves up into one of the ventilation shafts. Natasha was leading, Clint was following her. As silently as possible he whispered: „We need a plan to get outta here. With randomly erring around we will never find Bobbie."

Natasha sighed softly: „Clint… let's get to a secure area first, then we can probably ask one of the agents 'bout Morse- in our way."

Clint hesitantly nodded- they needed to be fast. Bobbie was clearly in danger, otherwise she would have called Fury already.

Tasha abruptly stopped, when she saw the Controlling-room through the bars of the ventilation shaft directly in front of her. „Perfect…", she muttered and turned her head to Clint, „Controlling-room below, two agents, one in front of the displays, one by the door. I will go for the door."

Nat's partner gave her a small nod before the redhead left the shaft and turned to the door. Moments later Clint followed her and headed for the agent, who wasn't looking at the monitors any more. Puzzled he stared at Tasha and then Clint, who seized the moment of surprise and quickly knocked him out with a few well placed hits. He was getting better at hand-to-hand-combat ever since he took up training lessons with Steve at the tower.

Clint shot Natasha a look and when he knew she was safe and monitoring the door for him he started searching for Bobbie on the computerscreens.

Systematically Clint was scanning the monitors for any signs of Barbara Morse. Nervously he was tapping on the the table with his fingers in a quite fast pace. He stopped when his gaze came to rest on one screen in the left lower corner. There were two people in a room. One was a tall man, he was standing his chair being left empty. The other one was a blonde girl, wearing a suit and that made him sure it was Bobbie. It was her Mockingbird- suit.

Without thinking about it again the archer rushed out of the room, leaving a confused Natasha behind.

The Black Widow froze when her partner scurried out of the room. Before she could do anything her feet were moving, following him, she heard her own voice: „Hawkeye, no! You're blowing our cover!"

But Barton didn't listen, he was running through the base without thinking about any consequences, without recognising the agents following them. He needed to help Bobbie out.

Agent Morse didn't wince when the blade scarified along the inside of her arm. She didn't open her mouth to let out the screams she was holding, she didn't speak. The last thing she'd do was begging for mercy. The situation was looking bad for her, but she had still honor and pride.

The general was still calm, but there was something threateningly in his accents: „You'll sing for me now… or I'm going to redesign your little costume." Bobbie just sat there with her head bowed.

„Nothing?", the man shook his head and gave her a sharp grin, „Pathetic." He grabbed the knife tighter and cut Mockingbird's shoulders.

Bobbie felt pain flashing through her whole body. She felt the warmth of blood around the wound. The red liquid leaking from the cut, coloring her suit. An aphonic scream escaped her throat.

The general was about to stab her, when he let out a scream and turned.

Bobbie could see the back of an arrow sticking out of the general's back, a second later the blood-soaked tip of another arrow followed. The man didn't even let out another scream. His muscles went numb and he fell to the floor, clearing Bobbies sight for Hawkeye, who was standing in the doorframe. Instantly he laid his bow down and unfettered her from her chains: „You okay?"

Bobbie nodded slightly: „Thanks for coming." A smirk crossed her lips: „I thought you weren't listening to Fury anymore."

Clint smiled lightly: „Not doing this for Fury… I couldn't let you hang in there any longer."

Natasha's voice was interrupting the little conversation between them: „Sorry for stopping you from chatting! But…" The Black Widow was dodging a bullet and attacked the AIM-agents with her two guns, „I would love some help here!"

Clint let go of Bobbie and shot several arrows at the attackers. Bobbie stopped before stepping out of the room: „Fighting won't do it! We have to get out of here!" Clint quickly thought that over and beckoned her over. Mockingbird followed Clint and Nat in the direction of the main door. Clint turned while running, he aimed at the floor before the agents' feet. He placed an arrow on that spot and continued running.

Immediately it started belching smoke.

Leaving the foes behind they made it to the door only to find even more of the AIM-agents waiting for them outside the door.

Natasha stopped when she saw about thrity weapons leveled at them. They had to be fast now or more would come and they wouldn't be able to handle that anymore. With outstreched arms she activated her Widow's Bite. Two of the soldiers suffered from the electricity and hit the ground.

Clint stared at the agents, but when he noticed Natasha and Bobbie starting to attack he longed for his exploding arrows automatically. He was so used to all the fights and cruelty. He was used to protecting himself and those who were with him. All his life he had been Hawkeye. He was used to managing things on his own, even as a kid he had done that, especially after the death of his parents.

He was longing for another arrow in his quiver, when he saw a man leveling his gun at Mockingbird. He turned and ignored his old target: „Bobbie! Watch out!" Before the man could pull the trigger, an arrow pierced his hand. He dropped the weapon and stared at Clint.

More men were coming. Clint was off guard, he was so focused on protecting Morse that he forgot to take care of himself. A gunshot was heard, a moment later the bullet met flesh. Hawkeye opened his mouth, but the scream got stuck in his throat. He gasped out. The bloodspot on his stomach grew. It was getting hard to keep standing –pain. Barton pressed one hand on the wound and looked at it –red. Too much blood. He had to keep fighting, but he couldn't.

Another bullet followed. It pierced Clint only centimeters above the first one. If it didn't hurt that much, he would probably laugh these guys out of court, because they had the worst target he had ever seen in his enire life. But that didn't happen. The archer fell down on his knees. He gritted his teeth and tried to stay on his knees. He would not allow himself to fall down, to pass out. He was a goddamn agent, so he had to stay strong. That was what he had been trained for.

Clints vision blurred, he couldn't avoid a silent scream to pass his lips. Natasha's distant voice echoed in his ears. He couldn't see her, everything was way too loud and way too dark and his whole body fucking hurt.

With ease the Black Widow ducked under the gunshots. With one shot for each of the agents she fought her way back to her teammates. Clinging to her two guns she got closer, step by step. Her attention was suddently cought by Clint falling to his knees. In that moment the world stopped. Everything happened in slow motion from now on. The bastard who did that to the archer had a dirty grin on his face. Natasha was sure that he would never grin again, when she was done with him.

One more time the man aimed his gun at Barton, but Natasha wouldn't let this happen. As firmly as she was able to she kicked her leg into the stomach of an agent, who blocked her way. Immediately the readheaded spy shot her Widow's Sting at the shooter. The man shook uncontrollable and went to the ground. Natasha ran to Clint's side and grabbed his arm in order to support him: „Clint… hold on, okay?"

As an answer she just received a moan from the fallen man. Trying to hide her concerned expression she parried the attackers coming near them with her electroshocks. „Morse!", she screamed hoping for Bobbie to have a plan how to get the three of them out of there. Unfortunately Mockingbird was nowhere near to be seen. More AIM-agents were coming and the Black Widow desperately tried to keep them away from Hawkeye.

Then everything happened awefullly fast. One moment Natasha was fighting off those guys attacking them, the next she found herself on the ground, face down. Pain was emitting from the spot between her shoulder blades. When she tried to get up again it was getting worse, followed by a strong blow on the back of her head, making it impossible to stay awake for the Russian beauty. Her thoughts with Clint and how she failed in protecting him, the terrible image of those agents killing both of them stuck in her head before she drove into unconsciousness.

When she realised she had no weapon, because they took her battle-staves away, she quickly diarmed two of the agents. She had to go with guns for today.

She had to swallow several blows, but she never let them get too close. This was a nearly hopeless situation, inhibititions were in the wrong place here, hesitating before killing the attackers could mean death.

No agent attacking from any side slipped Bobbie's gaze. But one thing she did not realise- it could have ended terrible, but thanks to Clint it didn't. When she heard Clint yelling at her, Mockingbird instantly turned only to see a gunman, who should have killed her, falling to the ground- an arrow piercing his heart. But what was coming afterwards was like a nightmare. A moment later a gunshot was to be heard above the battle-noise. Clint's expression was contorting with pain- a blood stain spreading on his stomach.

Without any hesitation Bobbie started running. She had to help Clint, she had to find a way to save him. She owed him her life and how was she repaying that? She had to find a way! Battling through AIM-agents more furiously now she finally reached Clint after what felt like too long. The Black Widow was already on the ground when she reached them.

„You sick bastards make me mad!", with one bullet Bobbie shot the agent, who knocked Natasha out, down.

Her mind was running, they had to get away from the agents. They had to go into hiding or they would be screwed. The agents were coming closer again and one managed to kick her away. Morse landed besides Clint. He was now lieing in a puddle of his own blood. She bit her bottom lip when suddenly she saw his quiver. She pressed one finger to the cog on the bottom of the thing until the right option was chosen. Bobbie grabbed an arrow and Hawkeye's bow. She prayed to whoever may be up there and fired it as far as she could onto the building. Quickly she grabbed Clint and Natasha. The arrow ended up on the roof and fixed itself there. The rope fixed to it furled itself and pulled the three assassins upwards leaving the confused AIM-agents behind.

**Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me a review so I know if I should continue. ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm excited! xD Second chapter is here! R&R**

Exhaling Bobbie let go of her comrades. They had to get away from there quickly, the agents would catch up with the three assassins fast. It had started snowing again, cold, glittering fakes swirled from the sky and formed a thin layer of fresh powder on the white that has already been there.

Bobbie realised that she will never be able to carry Clint and Natasha and the snow was making this situation even more hopeless. Clint was pale, with the seconds passing his skintone was getting closer and closer to the color of the snowflakes melting on his skin.

Bobbie turned to Natasha. She had to wake her, she had no choice. Softly she started shaking the redheads shoulders: „Natasha… please wake up. I need you to walk."

_No reaction_

Bobbie sighed and shook more forcefully: „Come on! I can't do it all alone!"

_Nothing_

The AIM-people were getting closer, Bobbie knew it. She gritted her teeth and slapped Natasha without any more hesitation: „We are so fucked up, if you leave me now! Do it for Clint…"

_A moment of silence_

Slowly Natasha's eyes cracked open: „Wha… wha…?" Bobbie pulled her up in a sitting position right away: „Clint… he… we have to get away from here. Now!" Natasha turned her head and watched Clint for a few seconds. Horror was writ large in her face: „Help me up…"

Bobbie instantly took Natasha's hand and helped her to her feet: „Can you walk through the snow."

Natasha glared back at the other woman: „Do I have a darn choice?"

Mockingbird rolled her eyes: „Just hurry."

With all her strength Bobbie Morse lifted Clint's upper body and started dragging him through the snow. Natasha mustered her sceptically: „They will see where we are going…" Bobbie flashed at the Black Widow: „Any better idea, then?" Natasha just shook her head slowly, they would see the foodsteps anyway.

Bobbie took fixed Clint's bow to his quiver.

She pulled Clint closer to her and went on. Natasha looked back at the AIM-base again and followed them as good as she could. It was hard to get past all that snow. She was still feeling dizzy and stumbled over and over again, because the weight of the frozen water was dragging her down. What were they supposed to do, when they were elsewhere? It wasn't save for them and they were losing time. It was no good, it was no use.

Bobbie was breathing heavily and she let out a grown when the mountain was getting steeper. Nat hurried to Mockingbirds side, they were in this together and she had to help. She had to help Clint, she wouldn't let him die on her. She needed to think straight, she needed to keep her fear in the background, but she was the Black Widow- she was trained to keep focused on her missions.

„Let me help you…", genlty Natasha supported Clints left shoulder in Bobbie's place. Bobbie just nodded briefly and they began pulling again.

It was easier with Natasha's help. Ahead lied a tall cliff. It was an endless seeming rock in the structure of the mountain. Snow covered parts of it and it was obvious that it couldn't be circumvented.

The voice of Agent Morse caught Natasha's attention: „There's a crack in the stone-wall…" She was pointing her finger at a spot not too far away from them. Natasha nodded her head: „I see… maybe there's a cave behind. Let's give it a try."

After what seemed to be too long they reached the hole in the stone facade. It was, indeed, big enough to sneak through. Carefully the women carried Clint inside the cave and placed him on the ground. It was a small cave, but they were able to stand straight. The walls and the ground were stone and the entrance was barely high enough to pass. It was more of crawling inside than actual walking.

Natasha kneeled besides Clint and warily opened his jacket. She inspected his wounds. He was losing too much blood and they had nothing to help him. He needed medical attention or he would… he wouldn't make it.

Natasha applied pressure on Clint's stomach and slowly turned her head to Bobbie: „We need something to tape the wounds… we need to stop the bleeding." Bobbie jewed on her lip, her gaze fixed to the ground. When she looked up and met Natasha's eyes. They were like ice: „You stay and protect him… I go back down and search for something."

„But… you can't go back. What if they catch you."

„I don't care… Clint has priority", with those words Bobbie left the cave.

Natasha wanted to help her, but she could not leave Clint. He needed someone to protect him. The spy heaved Clint in a sitting position to remove his quiver. She put it aside beneath it's owner, before she lowered him to the ground again. She tried to stop the bleeding again, but the wounds were too big for her tiny hands. Natasha swallowed hard, her voice was soft and quiet: „Clint… stay with me, okay? We can pull together through it…"

Of course there was no response. Natasha felt her hands trembling, gently she placed on hand on Clint's cheek: „Everything's going to be alright, I promise. We will go back home and you can tease Tony and Bruce in their lab. Remember that one time you took a peanut-butter-sandwitch to the lab with you? Tony doesn't like it anyway, if you sneak in an touch their stuff and their science-things, but he hates it when you make a mess in the lab… I found it quite amusing when that flying robotic hand chased you all around Avengers Tower…"

Hesitantly Natasha put her hand back on the wound. It left a crimson hand print on Clint's face. His skin was like the clouds in the sky and the snow outside the cave, the bloodred print looked so dark, so unreal. Like a child's hand on a piece of paper.

„Clint… Bobbie went to get you bandages. It will stop bleeding, but you have to hold on." Natasha checked Clint's pulse. It was weak and she didn't know if she was just making things up, but with every beat it was growing weaker and weaker under her fingers.

„You remember that one time we were in Paris? To get more info about that drug-organisation? You were joking around the whole time about the city of love and us making out in front of the Eiffel Tower… and I just told you to focus on the mission. I am the Black Widow after all, but maybe… I should have enjoyed our free time a little more. I should allow you close to me from time to time…"

Natasha paused. Why was she even telling stupid, little stories? Clint didn't need a bedtime story, she should do something useful.

Natasha tried to activate her earpiece again, but it didn't make a sound. There wasn't even a hissing. Frustrated she threw it in a corner. She gazed at Clint's earpiece next. „I need this…", she whispered, while she took the man's com from his ear. It was working… somehow. There was a hissing, but she couldn't change anything, she wasn't able to connect with SHIELD again. After a few tries she placed the earpiece beside Hawkeye's bow and arrows.

Now Clint's skin seemed to be whiter than the snow, his breathing was irregular. Natasha felt a moist spot on her cheek.

_A tear_

Automatically she touched the spot with her hand and looked at it. It was covered in blood- the blood of her partner, her best friend, her only love.

Natasha took a deep breath and her voice came out shaky: „If we are in Paris ever again, I promise, I will do all the things you want to do. We will visit the Eiffel Tower and we will go to a restaurant and we will share Mousse au Chocolat. I will even kiss you as often as you want, because… because…. I love you, Clint."

Natasha felt another tear making its way down her cheek and another and another. She started crying. She cried over the man lying in front of her. And her hope that he would open his eyes ever again was fading.

Bobbie turned around one more time and started going back the track they had reached the cave. She had to hurry, otherwise it would be too late.

Ocean blue eyes locked with the ruby-colored spots in the snow. Suddenly an idea flashed through Mockingbirds mind. The general only cut her suit on her shoulders, so she could still use the fabric under her arms.

A smile crossed Bobbie's lips, she would be much faster. Her hands shivered a little in the cold, windy air, but that didn't detain her from grabbing part of her sleeves. The garment was designed like the body of a flying squirrel. It was made of a special matter, that was able to carry her weight, so she could float above the ground.

Bobbie climbed a small rock, that would give her a start. Unhesitantly she pushed away. She could always count on her suit and she knew it. She didn't see any AIM-agents so far, but she believed they only took weapons or snowmobiles or they would wait until the three of them were half frozen and easy to defeat.

Light-footed the assassin landed on the backside of the rooftop soon. She had to sneak in and as fast as possible find a new cover, there would be too many agents to just wander around the base to get Clint bandages and whatever else they had. When Bobbie squashed through a narrow shaft she was sure she had gotten insane. What kind of person would come back to the place, where she was tortured and attacked, voluntary? The shaft was getting wider and horizontal, which Bobbie accepted with ease. Soundless she moved to a spot where light illuminated the pipe through a hole. It wasn't that big, but Bobbie could maybe fit through it. She looked down carefully and saw a few AIM-agents aiming and disaiming wepons. It was a small room, so there were only four of them. Bobbie closed her eyes, before they shut open again and she let herself fall down on one of the agents. She clinched to the man she landed on, took his wepon and knocked him out immediately. Then she let go of him and ducked under the kick of a young woman.

Bobbie slammed the girl into the wall and hit her head with the butt of a pistol. With her left leg Bobbie parried the man, who tried to grab her from behind.

When she was done with the girl, she shifted all her weight back and the agent fell to the ground his head hitting a box of weapons.

Mockingbird turned around to see the fourth agent gone. She had to hurry, before they would find her. She didn't have time to change the plan, so she took the uniform of the girl and threw it into the shaft. She climbed up again too and not a second too late, because the door opened again and she heard nervous voices swirling around.

She had to get away now.

With one hand Agent Morse grabbed the uniform. She distanced from the hole in the shaft and when the voices were gone, she paused. She mustered the uniform of the poor girl. Where the name tag was supposed to be, was only a piece of fabric with four numbers: „3702".

Bobbie sighed. None of the agents had a name here. They were only numbers to the generals. But it was not the time to think about that cruelty, she had to find medicine and get out.

Carefully she put the uniform on over her suit. She checked the pockets- a pistol, a knife, an ID-card and a lipstick.

After putting on the mask too Bobbie searched for a good spot to leave the shaft. Luckily she found a room, where just two agents were and they were busy checking the camera-screens of that part of the building.

„Perfect…", she thought, „…a room with lots of screens has no cameras itself."

Nearly inaudible Bobbie left the shaft. She made her way to the door without catching the attention of the other two agents, who were still focused on the screens. Quickly she opened the door and slipped through the gap. The heads of the two men turned, but they only saw the door close again. They just shrugged and looked at the monitors again. „One of the newbies must have gotten lost again."

Soon Bobbie found some recruits, who didn't notice one more in their company. She kept her eyes open for some sort of a infirmary. It felt so familiar walking around in that building again, like she had for weeks, when she was undercover. But she also realised that she had seen only a small part of the quarter. Every room seemed to look the same- isolated, cold. The AIM-base matched perfectly with the uniforms of ist employees. No personality, no decoration, nothing that differed one room from the other, one soldier from the one next to him. The rooms were just numbers- so were the people, who had their numbers fixed to their uniforms.

Mockingbird suddenly stopped. There was one door standing all alone. In the whole building there was the exact same distance between the doors, but that one was alone. It had to be a bigger room.

Bobbie fell behind in the group and looked around, before she stopped in front of the door. The sign read: 236- medics.

A smile flashed over her lips. She opened the door and met the eyes of a nurse: „What can I do for you?" Bobbie's gaze wandered around the room- A few agents on beds and seats and two more nurses: „I… I just wanted to look for my sister. I am not sure, if she got wounded while the… incident. Can you look for me if she is here?" Morse gave the nurse her best smile and the girl nodded: „If you insist… I need her number." Glancing down on her own number Bobbie looked at the nurse again: „It's 3689."

The young nurse scribbled the numbers on her clipboard and turned. Bobbie waited until she was out of sight. She was scanning the room for a door to the stockroom. After a few seconds she spotted a wooden object with something that looked like a doorknob made of brass. In a normal pace she passed the beds and stopped besides the door. When she was sure nobody, but the camera, was watching, she slipped into the room.

As she expected it was just a small room. The walls were covered with shelves full of medical equipment. Without hesitation she grabbed bandages, antibiotics, tranquilizer and two of those aluminium blankets, that were just as small as a pack of bandages.

Bobbie stuffed it all in the pockets of the AIM-suit, fortunately they were big enough. She left the room again and came back to the spot where she met the nurse just in time to not be suspicious to that one. „Sorry, miss. Your sister is not here." „Thank you", the agent murmured and left the station.

She wouldn't climb up into the shafts again, she was one of the agents and she just had to get out. She would use the front door. She would make it in time, she had to save Clint, because he saved her. She needed to save him, because she couldn't let him die. She needed to save Clint, because she needed him. She needed his terrible jokes, that weren't funny most of the time- she would laugh anyway. She needed his smiles and chuckles. She couldn't live without him telling her, that everything was going to be alright.

**Thanks for reading. Giving me feedback takes only seconds! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for letting you wait for like… eternities. Hope you still enjoy chapter 3 ;)**

When Bobbie left the building, she first felt the cold. The wind had gotten stronger since the last time she had been out. Bobbie took a deep breath and started to fight her way through the fresh snow. This was clearly not the best day for this kind of activity. The further away the agent went from the base the heavier the snow fell. Bobbie was freezing, although she had the AIM-suit on.

Suddenly Bobbie stopped. She thought she had heard something, something like an engine's noise. It was faint- then silence. And suddenly she heard it again, it wasn't that loud, yet, but for her it seemed too near. They must know, they must have found out. As fast as possible Bobbie rushed through the storm. If they were able to follow her to the cave, it would be over. They were all in danger because of her.

She didn't know if she was imagining things, but the engine noises seemed to get louder with every single second. Agent Morse increased in speed. She fell over but managed to stand up as fast as she had fallen. The gloves were thin and Bobbie's hands were shaking. The snow was too cold, too wet and too icy.

A faint smile scurried over her lips- Bobbie could see the cave near her. It was blurred, as if there was a veil in front of her face, but it was certainly there. While running she glanced over her shoulder one more time. The smile changed into an expression of horror. Like she could see the cave in front of her, she could see two snowmobiles behind her, but they weren't still, they were moving toward her.

The cave was near and Bobbie ran like, she was sure, she had never been before. But what to do, when she was there, they would only find Clint and Natasha and they would kill them all. But Clint needed medical attention. He needed the things in her pockets. She pushed her doubts away- there would be a possibility to not get killed when she arrived. First priority was to get there in time.

The AIM- snowmobiles were not far when Bobbie reached the cage, their forms were becoming less blurred.

...

For a while Natasha was just holding Clints hand, staring at the broken earpieces, but when she heard something outside she instantly tugged out her pistols. Soundlessly she tiptoed to the entrance and glanced outside. The snow was coming down heavily, but not that far away three forms appeared. Loud engine noises echoed from the mountains. The two large forms had to be some kind of a vehicle producing those sounds. The smaller form seemed weak and slender. It was a person and she was running from the vehicles. "Morse...", Natasha whispered. It had to be Bobbie, but AIM must have found out. She was a fugitive and when she reached them, AIM would come too.

Quickly Natasha tried to come up with a solution. Was there any way to stop AIM from entering, but let Bobbie in? She looked around and her gaze fixed to Clint's quiver. It was risky... maybe it was insane, but it was the only way.

She ran back to Clint and kneeled before the quiver. In a hurry she was searching for the right option on the small wheel on the bottom. Luckily Clint had taught her a little about archery so it didn't take her that long. She grabbed an arrow and went back to the gap in the stone wall. Bobbie was breathing heavily when she arrived seconds later and Natasha helped her inside. She hesitated for a moment, but then she activated the arrow and piled it into the stone wall.

Natasha pushed Bobbie back and whispered: "I'm sorry...", before the arrow exploded in all directions.

When Natasha opened her eyes again it was darker than before, but still easy to breathe. Slowly she pushed herself up, away from the ground. Her vision cleared again and she looked around her, Bobbie was still on the ground by her side. Carefully she shook her shoulder: "Morse... wake up." Bobbie blinked at Natasha, she still looked confused: Wha... what happened?" Natasha helped her to sit up: "I needed to close the door... I used an explosive arrow. Did you get medicine and bandages for Clint?"

Bobbie rushed to Clint's side: „Of course..." She emptied her pockets and grabbed the dressing material. Natasha helped her to rip off Clints shirt and Bobbie put wound dressings on the still bleeding lesions. She fixed the things with bandages skilfully and carefully opened one package of antibiotics. In the carton was a syringe filled with transparent liquid. She hesitated and Natasha instantly noticed: „What?"

Bobbie sighed and looked up: „I… I can't." Natasha looked at her uncomprehending: „Why?" Bobbie swallowed heavily, her hands were slightly shaking: „Once I… I missed somehow- I don't know, I did something wrong. I failed and I killed a person. I can't… I… Clint…"

Natasha sighed and disseized her of the syringe. She kneeled down beneath Clints arm and palpated it carefully. When she found a vein, she slowly injected the liquid and put a small bandage on his arm after removing the syringe.

She looked back up at Bobbie, who was silently unfolding one of the metallic blankets. She covered Clint with it and looked at Natasha then: „So? What's the plan?"

Natasha tried a small smile: „I am usually not making any plans… Leave that to Steve and Tony." She clenched her teeth while thinking about the other Avengers. They didn't even say Goodbye and unfortunately she didn't write down where they were going on the paper she had left in the Tower for Steve. She shook her head and stood up again. Bobbie flashed her a gaze and followed: „You think the AIM idiots are still out there?"

Natasha shrugged: „Dunno…" She walked over to where the hole once had been. There were voices outside the cave. Natasha tried to pick up the words and beckoned Mockingbird over: „Bobbie… they are talking 'bout something."

Bobbie quietly walked over to Natasha's side.

The voices outside were getting louder, the people were arguing.

„Let's just blow the whole bloody mountain up! They get killed- no more problems!"

„No! Don't you see? We got two of the Avengers trapped behind massive stone walls! What an occasion to call for their friends, ain't it?"

The other voice paused.

„Fine… I call the boss."

Another pause

„Hey… yes it's Team 20. We're still by the cave. One of my partners had the idea to lure the other Avengers here. We mean… we got two of there own trapped here… Yes, what a great idea of yours, Sir… Yes, one of your best."

The other voice spoke up again: „So?"

„He loves it… sounded like he had a finished plan inside his head already."

„Great… can we go back now? I'm freezing my ass off!"

Then the engine noises came back, but soon they decreased in volume and disappeared again.

Natasha looked at Bobbie in horror: „Fuck it! Now we are the trap… this is getting worse every minute." Bobbie sighed: „Hey… you're talking about the Avengers. AIM is not that good. They will totally mess up with their plan."

Natasha just shook her head. She looked wasted, defeated. It was terrible to see her like that. She knelt down beside Clint again.

Bobbie opened her mouth in order to comfort Natasha again, but stopped when she saw Natasha's expression changing from despair to pure horror again. Bobbie's eyes widened: „What? What's wrong?" Natasha didn't respond, she looked like she was running out of oxygen. „Natasha! Hell, what's going on?"

Natasha swallowed and put two fingers on Clint's aorta: „There is no heart beat…" Suddenly she yanked her head up: „He is dying! God! Help him!"

...

It was evening in New York, but Avengers Tower was full of life. Bruce was sitting on the couch reading a book, but he was listening to the conversation going on between Stark and Pepper anyway… if you can even call Pepper complaining about several things Tony forgot and him just answering with „Mhm" every now and then.

Steve was behind the bar with Thor explaining the function of a mixer to him again, because when he first tried mixing several types of food that really don't go together without slicing or peeling them first it didn't turn out that great.

Nobody really thought about the missing master assassins. Their missions for SHIELD without the Avengers often took them days, sometimes weeks.

Pepper wanted to start nagging again when an incoming call appeared on the large flat screen in the living room. They all paused and Steve walked over from the bar to Tony who was about to answer the call from „Unknown, Location: Austria, Alps, Großglockner".

Tony furrowed his brow and accepted the call. The face of a man appeared on the screen. He had short, blonde hair and a malicious expression on his face. The picture was cut by the stomach, but the label on his chest read „AIM-general" clearly visible. The man was the first one to speak: „Good evening, Avengers."

Tony glanced through the room and eyed the screen again afterwards: „What do you want?"

„I would like a friendlier welcome… especially in this situation. Don't you think so, Mister Stark?", the man smirked, like it was his best day ever. Something wasn't right with this.

Tony prepared himself for raging out and cut the man on the other side of the line down to size. Steve noticed and instantly spoke up: „Very sorry for that… but no time for smalltalk. Maybe we should come down to business right away."

A small grin formed on the general's lips: „Leastwise not all of you have beastly manners. But well… I worried, because you're a little late picking up your nice friends so I called you."

Steve crossed his arms: „What is that lie supposed to achieve?"

The man kept calm: „You better believe me, Avengers. We have Hawkeye, the Black Widow and SHIELD's little spy, Mockingbird, trapped in a stone cage… you know it's cold out there and the stone walls around them are thick… Soon there will be a lack of oxygen."

Steve frowned, he just didn't want to believe that. It always seemed like the assassins could handle anything, no matter how big it was: „Proof it!"

When Steve said that an evil grin formed on the general's face: „If you have a minute… I send someone there for your ‚proof'."

The Avengers all looked at each other, uncertain what to do, unsure what to think about it. It just couldn't be real.

...

Bobbie stood there in shock, not able to move. For the first time after joining SHIELD she didn't know what to do, she was scared, she was terrified. But she had to do something, she had to save Clint.

She wasn't that scared girl anymore. She was no school girl, hiding in her locker when the bad boys passed. She was an Agent- she was Mockingbird. She had learned how to react to kind of every situation one could think of.

Pressing her eyes together Bobbie took a deep breath. She pushed all her fears away and knelt beside Natasha, who was still just sitting there, face ashen and her whole body shaking. She lightly pushed Nat away and started reviving Clint with chest compressions. It had to work. She couldn't lose him now, not after everything they had survived that day. It felt wrong that he was dieing here in front of them, while she was barely injured. It was all so wrong.

Natasha slowly found her way back to reality. Bobbie was beside her. She was trying to save Clint. Bobbie's blonde hair was a mess and tears were shimmering in her reddened eyes. With every inch of strength left in her body she was pressing her hands on Clint's chest again and again.

With her hands still shaking Natasha pressed two of her fingers on Hawkeye's aorta again. There was still no heartbeat. She swallowed heavily. She felt panic rise inside her again.

The Black Widow had gone through pain and grief, terror and death before, but this… this somehow felt worse. It felt like someone had taken her heart out and threw it off of a bridge. She was only waiting for the moment it would meet the concrete in order to shatter into a million pieces.

She grew up in a place so terrible that most of her peers had died. She remembered the screams and the torture and the blood. It hunted her every night, but it never broke her, nothing ever broke her. But if Clint died now, she didn't know if she could live with it. If Clint was gone, he would take every inch of her with him.

Natasha felt her eyes water. She didn't want to cry again, she had to think straight, she had to be usefull. While trying to blink away the tears, Natasha looked down on her hands. A strange feeling overcame her, when she saw her Widows Bites on her wrists.

_Of course… Electricity!_

She pushed Bobbie away from Clint and heard her own voice more broken then she thought it would ever leave her mouth: „Back! Don't touch him now…" The Black Widow moved back a little she aimed an shot all two of her Widows Bites at Clint's chest.

They blinked red for a second and activated themselves. Clint's whole body was shaking and went still again after the shock. But now there was a small rise and fall of his chest. It was faint, but it was there. He was alive. He was able to recover now. Natasha let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Her insane idea had worked.

She looked at Bobbie again. She looked relieved too. Before she could open her mouth to say something there was noise outside again. The mobiles stopped right in front of the cave there were footsteps, then a woman's voice: „Listen, prisoners! I've got the Avengers on the other end of the line! Wanna call for a little help?"

Natasha had forgotten about the trap, but now it was all back in her mind. She was looking at Bobbie. Bobbie just shrugged helplessly. Natasha hesitated, if she stayed silent- maybe they wouldn't believe the AIM agents that they were there. But she could, on the other hand, warn them. They would be able to prepare themselves for any situation. Natasha knew it- they needed help, if they ever wanted to make it out of this awkward situation. It wasn't supposed to end like that, but to put her only true friends besides Clint in danger…

Tony's voice pulled her back, she was in the cave, AIM was outside: „Little red? You there?" He sounded distracted, worried.

Natasha took another deep breath and her voice came out less shaky then when she talked to Morse before: „Tony… don't dare coming here! They want to trap you!"

„Natasha… are you really imprisoned, you okay?", Tony sounded really worried now. He didn't seem to believe that Natasha and Clint were trapped.

Natasha chewed on the insides of her cheeks: „It's… fine. Clint is just… he is not in the best condition, caught a bullet in a fight."

It took Tony a little to answer again: „No matter what you say… we won't let you down! We'll come and get you out of there!"

Natasha sounded desperate now: „No! They will catch you too! They will kill us anyway, but then they get all of you too! Stay in New York, don't come!" She had to rescue her friends. One time in her life she wasn't alone- one time in her life she had to think about others too.

Tony sighed: „I'm sorry Red… but you are out of your mind. We can handle it! See you soon!"

„No! Listen to me, they are cleverer than they seem!", Natasha screamed, but there was no answer. Tony must have hung up. That was one of his big mistakes, he always overestimated himself and underestimated the threat.

The snow mobiles started their engines again and drove back to the base.

Bobbie looked at Natasha: „Do you really think they can't handle this?"

Natasha nodded her head: „They handled us and in the past they handled others like us. Why shouldn't they handle them too?"

Bobbie eyeballed the ground: „Sorry… I think they will come and all we can do now is pray…"

Natasha nodded slightly and looked at Clint again. His pulse had gotten solid, maybe he would wake soon. At least one good thing.

**I am a little surprised myself that this is going in such a direction… Thanks for reading this chapter! Review :)**


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